Good news for Downtown Chicago, at last.
After completing its nearly $1.3 billion redevelopment of Chicago’s Old Post Office, New York-based 601W Companies landed $215 million in financing to advance a plan to transform an empty six-story property in the Southwest Loop into a modern 700,000-square-foot office building.
This project could be the redeeming breath of life for the still-struggling market, in conjunction with Google’s future redevelopment of Helmut Jahn’s James R. Thompson Center in The Loop.
According to The Real Deal and Crain’s, 601W bought the parcel at 801 South Canal Street in 2020 for $68 million, and it has since been rebranded as Canal Station. The new financing will back significant renovation work to the building, including new tenant amenity spaces and the replacing of all windows.
601W is entering an existing building that was developed for Northern Trust, following the current trend toward repositioning existing assets, rather than attempting to build from the ground up. Chicago-based Telos Group will oversee office leasing. Success in filling Canal Street with new users would further validate the Southwest Loop as an up-and-coming spot. Crain’s said Northern Trust employees jokingly referred to 801 S. Canal as “Canalcatraz” in the past for its isolation. But the Old Post Office and the recent completion of the 50-story BMO Tower at 320 S. Canal St. have changed the complexion of the area.
The positive effects of the completed Canal Station are highly anticipated.
